Designing Outside the Box: Bookcases
Alexia Rossetti Thursday, June 7, 2012 at 10:00AM 
(Sherwood Bookcase from Khaos Italia)Even with the proliferation of e-books, many booklovers still love to own physical books and show them off in their home. After all a shelf of books is a sign of culture - even if you haven’t read them! I also prefer to display books in a special bookcase but find most of them to be utterly utilitarian and ho-hum. After a thorough search, I discovered these unusual bookcases to be worthy of my books!
Khaos from Italy offers a whimsical design - see above - in its wavy Sherwood Bookcase. You may feel a little dizzy looking at it but it certainly is a showstopper! If you want a little Oriental theme, Khaos offers their Asian bookcase with its yin yang interconnected shapes of the circle and the square.
(Asian bookcase from Khaos Italia)Haworth designed a stylish bookcase with contrasting colors that incorporated waves in their shelves. Thus a static piece of furniture suggesting movement becomes a more dynamic element.
(NC-B Resonate bookcase from Haworth)Not to be outdone, Antonello Italia created their version of a wavy bookcase called the River. The River comes in sections and can be added end to end to create a longer bookcase, showing off its wave pattern.
(River bookcase from Antonello)One of the most functional and best designed bookcase I’ve ever seen is this design from Danny Kuo, called the Staircase. If you ever thought: how can I reach that top shelf for those books without dragging out a ladder? Then this bookcase is for you. The bottom shelves slide out and form a step that allows you to climb up and reach the upper shelves – ingenious!!
(Staircase by Danny Kuo)You don’t have to settle for that boxy bookcase - just think outside of the box with these styles. There’s a lot more unique bookcases!
Interested in learning more about furniture? Take a look at Sheffield School's Complete Course in Interior Design. At Sheffield, you will learn how to transform a space, create color schemes, and select furniture, lighting, and accessories.